An experimental test of rational and emotional appeals about a recreation issue

In this study we measured voting Changes on mock bailors after exposure to persuasive appeals about a recreation management issue-a trapping ban ballo t initiative. In an experimental design, we exposed university students to one-sided versus balanced appeals and rational versus emotional al:,peals. Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that one-sided appeals influenced votes in the intended directions, causing approximately 10% of subjects to change their votes. Balanced appeals caused fewer than 2.5% of subjects to change their votes. No differences were found between the influence of rat ional and emotional appeals. Mediation analysis showed that emotional appea ls were more readily recalled than rational appeals, but they were not more persuasive. A more complete understanding of persuasion regarding recreati on management issues will require sampling the general population outside t he laboratory setting, testing additional variables, and studying the effec ts of rational and emotional appeals in other recreation contexts.